Operation Pegasus

Operation Pegasus was a military operation carried out on the

In September 1944, the

MI9, the British intelligence agency formed to help soldiers and airmen stranded behind enemy lines evade German capture, parachuted agent Dick Kragt into the Netherlands in June 1943. Before the Battle of Arnhem in September 1944, Kragt, his deputy Joop Piller [nl], and their escape organization helped more than 100 allied airmen shot down over the occupied Netherlands to escape to Brussels, Belgium from where the Comet Escape Line guided the downed airmen to Spain and hence to safety in England. Thus, by the time of the Battle of Arnhem, MI9 had experienced agents in the Netherlands to help stranded allied military personnel.^[3][4]

In a series of poor decisions for which others more than once paid the toll, Neave sent experienced IS-9 Captain Peter Baker, M.C. into German-controlled territory to contact the Dutch Resistance and organize an ill-fated rescue line codenamed Windmill. Baker was to stay on a farm near Tiel that had already drawn German suspicion. The local German command already had a quisling stay at the farm to spy when Baker was sent there by Neave. Windmill was one of several possible routes prepared and by far the most unfeasible option with the highest risk, due to the large numbers of German troops in the area and the local lay of the land. Upon insistence by the patriots who sheltered him ^[7] and due to the nature of the tasks at hand,^[8] Baker disobeyed orders to remain indoors and be dressed in full uniform at all time, so as to do his job properly. After a series of strategic cockups higher up the chain of command, Neave was under pressure by his superior Langley who in turn had been informed by Field Marshal Montgomery that any additional failures during the operation would mean the end of Langley's command. The farm where Baker stayed was raided and Baker captured on the evening of 16 October 1944, disrupting plans for the evacuation of the stranded soldiers via the Windmill route. Baker barely survived as a prisoner of war due to mistreatment and malnourishment at the hands of the SS and would suffer health maladies as a consequence for the remainder of his life. The head of the Ebbens family who sheltered him, Fekko Ebbens, was executed in retaliation several weeks after the raid. The Dutch civilians who sheltered and fed stranded soldiers ran a greater risk than did the soldiers. Captured soldiers were sent to prisoner of war camps; Dutch civilians who helped the soldiers were often executed. The Germans were aware that a large number of British soldiers were hiding near Arnhem and were actively searching for them.^[9] Despite their great sacrifice, Neave would try to blame Baker for the raid on the farm.

Inside German controlled territory, Major

Piet Kruijff, head of the local Resistance, had been organising the evaders into safe houses in Ede. Soon there were over 80 men in the town and it was becoming so congested that he began housing men in Oud-Reemst [nl] as well. By the time of the evacuation an additional 40 men were there.^[10] At first it was hoped that the Allied offensive would be quickly resumed thus liberating the men. Tatham-Warter even made plans to carry out operations against the Germans when the 2nd Army began crossing the Rhine.^[10] However, in October Kirschen informed the Resistance that there were no plans to attack north of the Lower Rhine in the near future. As the presence of so many Allied evaders would place a great strain on the Resistance and expose the civilians hiding them to great risk, it was decided to evacuate the men as soon as possible.^[12]

The 'HQ in hiding' near Arnhem was in contact with MI9 and 2nd Army in Nijmegen. Lt Colonel David Dobie (commander of 1st Battalion) was rowed across the Rhine by a young Dutchman on the night of 16 October and reached Allied lines.^[11] Dobie contacted the XXX Corps and the 101st Airborne Division, who approved the proposed evacuation.^[10] Dobie was appointed to lead the evacuation with Neave and Fraser as his intelligence officers. They contacted Tatham-Warter by telephone and drew up a plan they hoped would allow all of the men in hiding to escape.^[10][13]

Dobie selected a location on the river near Renkum to make the crossing of the Rhine (codenamed Digby).

On 20 October the Germans ordered residents of villages near Arnhem to leave their homes by the 22nd. Deciding to take advantage of the confusion this would cause, the date for the operation was brought forward to the night of 22–23 October.[15]

The Pegasus operation required the combined efforts of MI9, the Dutch Resistance, and British and American soldiers. The Dutch Resistance was asked to collect the stranded soldiers from their hiding places and take them to a location near the village of Renkum, 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) west of Arnhem on the German-controlled north side of the lower Rhine River. From the south bank of the river, controlled by the allies, the Royal Engineers of the British Army crossed the river in rowboats accompanied by American paratroopers who were there to provide combat support, if needed. Neave and Fraser of MI9 set up a command center in a farmhouse near Randwijk to greet the evaders on the southern bank of the Rhine after they had successfully crossed.^[16]

The German presence in this area was very heavy after the Arnhem fighting and the men assembled in a location only 500 metres from German machine gun nests.^[15] By dark 139 men had assembled. They were mainly from the 1st Airborne Division, but there were also a US 82nd Airborne Division trooper, a number of aircrew, some Dutch civilians, and some Russians wishing to join the Allies. The men were organised into platoons and at 9pm began moving south towards the river.^[17] Tatham-Warter recorded that the Germans were almost certainly aware of their presence, but perhaps unsure of their numbers and wary of American patrols, they kept some distance. There was one contact with a patrol and a brief exchange of fire, but no one was hurt.^[10]

At midnight the group reached the riverbank and moved to the crossing point indicated by the Bofors tracer fire. Once there they flashed a V for Victory signal with their torches,^[18] but there was an anxious wait of twenty minutes for the boats.^[10] In fact, on the south bank, Dobie, the engineers, and a patrol of E Company, 506 PIR observed the signal and immediately launched their boats, but the British were some 500-800m upriver of the crossing point. Upon reaching the north bank E Company established a small perimeter while men headed east to locate the evaders.^[19][20] The men quickly moved downstream and in the next 90 minutes all of them were evacuated,^[20] with the exception of a Russian who was caught and arrested by the Germans.^[21] The Germans opened fire sporadically and some mortar rounds fell near the crossing, but the fire was inaccurate.^[10] Once on the other side, the escapees were led to a farmhouse for refreshments, before being driven to Nijmegen where Dobie had arranged a party and champagne.^[22] The men were later flown back to the UK, rejoining the men who had escaped in Operation Berlin.

Pegasus II

The success of the first evacuation prompted the Allies to organize Operation Pegasus II to evacuate additional soldiers trapped near Arnhem. Unfortunately the security of this operation was compromised early, when a reporter impersonated an intelligence officer and interviewed several escapees from the first operation. The subsequent news story alerted the Germans who strengthened their patrols along the river.^[23]

Major Hugh Maguire (of HQ, 1st Airborne Division) was put in charge of the second escape.^[22] The operation largely replicated the original, but was due to take place 4 km further east on the evening of 18 November.^[22][23] A party of between 130 and 160 men would attempt to cross the river on this occasion, although this number included a much higher proportion of civilians, aircrew, and other non-infantry who were unused to this sort of operation.^[22][24] Because of the distance from Ede to the crossing point and the need to skirt a German 'no man's zone', the main party's march to the river was approximately 23 km (compared to the 5 km of Pegasus I) and would take two days to make.^[22][25] The main party became fragmented on the second night^[25] and whilst attempting to make a short cut, one party under Major John Coke of the King's Own Scottish Borderers stumbled into a German patrol.^[22][23] Several men were killed in the resulting firefight – perhaps more than twenty^[26] – and the evaders were forced to scatter. No one was able to cross that night, although seven men crossed during the next two days.^[22] The Germans searched the area intensively with patrols and spotter planes, enabling them to capture more of the evaders,^[22] and most of the Resistance's Dutch guides were killed or captured.^[27]

Later escapes

Colonel

• Brigadier Gerald Lathbury, CO 1st Parachute Brigade (Operation Pegasus).
• Brigadier
  John Hackett, CO 4th Parachute Brigade
  (February 1945).
• Colonel Graeme Warrack, Senior medical officer, 1 Airborne Division (February 1945).
• Lieutenant Colonel David Dobie
  , CO 1 Battalion, Parachute Regiment (in advance of Operation Pegasus).
• Lieutenant Colonel Martin Herford, 163 RAMC (October 1944).
• Allison Digby Tatham-Warter
  , OC A Company, 2 Battalion, Parachute Regiment (Operation Pegasus).
• Major
  Anthony Deane-Drummond
  , 2IC Divisional Signals (Operation Pegasus).
• Major
  Brigade Major
  1st Parachute Brigade (Operation Pegasus).
• Alexander Lipmann Kessel, 16th (Parachute) Field Ambulance
  (February 1945).